


the future is in the hand that you hold

by reachedthebitterend



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: M/M, cosmicloveexchange19
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:22:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21736771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reachedthebitterend/pseuds/reachedthebitterend
Summary: The piece of the alien spaceship wasn’t the only thing that Jim left behind for Alex to find.
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 4
Kudos: 127





	the future is in the hand that you hold

**Author's Note:**

> i said i was going to be better at crossposting and then failed miserably immediately, written for @vlamito for the cosmic love exchange
> 
> Written on: 08/13/19

**.sanders’ auto.**

Michael walks out of the Airstream and then stops right at the last step and stares.

Alex is standing several feet away from the firepit, looking at a piece of paper in his hand and then staring up at the sign for Sander’s Auto.

Michael hasn’t seen Alex for weeks bordering on months. Their last conversation, if you could call it that, was at the Wild Pony, where Alex gave him all the fireworks and pyrotechnics he wanted out of a breakup, and gave Maria all the answers she needed to tell Michael that they could never be more than friends.

Michael has had to deal with Kyle if there is anything that involves Project Shepherd that they need to know, and anytime Alex answers a call from him he ignores any of Michael’s friendly overtures to keep things as professional as possible.

Lately though, Michael can hear the thawing in his voice, can hear the smile that stretches his face when Michael says something completely ridiculous just to get him to drop the soldier jargon.

Michael hadn’t realized just how different, and open Alex was with him, until Alex just completely shut him out.

Alex takes several steps back, hitting one of the lawn chairs, and it knocks into the fire pit, making a loud clattering noise, that makes Alex look around wildly to see if anyone heard him.

Michael sees how his gaze skips over Michael before he does a double take.

Michael raises an eyebrow as soon as Alex makes eye contact, and Michael notices that he’s holding a shovel and his other eyebrow goes up as he drops down from the last step and walks towards Alex.

“You know, if you need help burying a body I can do it without the need of a shovel.”

Alex rolls his eyes, his lips twitching, but he looks away from Michael and back to the sign with a pondering look on his face.

“What exactly are you doing?" 

Alex turns back to him pursing his mouth, and gives him a look like he doesn’t actually want to tell Michael what he’s doing.

But then he inhales deeply, and gives Michael a sort of sad look. 

"When we were kids, Kyle and I, my dad used to make us do dangerous obstacle courses designed of course to make me fail, trying to toughen me up, I guess. But Jim gave us puzzles and made us go on scavenger hunts every Easter.”

He looks like he’s fond of those memories, and Michael would ask him what this has to do with anything, but this is the first time in weeks that Alex is talking about something other than sharing information Project Shepherd related.

“I found a clue at the cabin,” he says, “And it led me here, but I’m beginning to think that this is more of a scavenger hunt than a puzzle.”

Michael licks his lips and feels a jolt going down his spine when Alex’s eyes drop to his mouth before he hurriedly looks away.

“And you think this is Project Shepherd related?”

Alex nods his head sharply, giving Michael a brief look.

“You think there’s a clue that will tell you where to go next somewhere around here?”

Alex nods his head again and looks back to the sign.

“I can help,” Michael offers, and Alex’s gaze snaps back to him. “I know this place better than anyone.”

Alex raises an eyebrow at him. “Aren’t you supposed to be working today?”

Michael gives him a look back. “When has that ever stopped me before?”

Alex rolls his eyes, and then he’s propping the shovel on the firepit and walking closer to Michael, his hand extended, the piece of paper blowing lightly in the cool morning breeze.

Michael closes the distance between them and grabs the paper, looking at Alex, who is staring at him with his unfathomable, dark eyes.

Michael tugs the paper out of his hold.

“So you’re going to leave Sanders all on his own today?” Alex asks as Michael studies the piece of paper in his hands.

“No, he’s visiting his niece, so he won’t be here either. I was supposed to be opening the shop today on my own,” he says almost absently as he stares at the symbols scratched into the paper, and Alex’s neat handwriting right above it, spelling out the words ‘sanders auto’ and ‘sign.’

Alex makes a low sound, and sighs before Michael hears him walking away.

He looks up and sees him heading towards the entrance.

“Where are you going?” he asks following after him, the piece of paper crushed in one hand.

Alex turns back to look at him once before he says. “Making sure that you still have a job when Sanders comes back.”

Michael furrows his brow in confusion. “It’s not like he’s going to fire me. I do most of the work around here.”

Alex doesn’t respond to that, but Michael can feel him rolling his eyes.

Alex walks faster than him on a bad day, and he’s already at the door to the office by the time Michael makes it there.

He goes to pull the key out of his pocket, when the door swings open, and Alex turns to him and holds up the lockpicker in his hand giving Michael a smug look.

Michael just raises an eyebrow back, impressed, but refusing to acknowledge it. “And you called me a criminal.”

Alex scoffs and rolls his eyes. “Are you ever going to let that go?”

Michael gives him a face, and shakes his head a little.

Alex just rolls his eyes one more time and walks into the dark office.

Michael walks in behind him, flipping on the light switch as Alex ducks behind the counter and starts going through the file drawers muttering under his breath about baby boomers who despised technological advances.

Michael leans against the counter and is about to ask Alex what he’s doing but Alex makes a triumphant noise and pulls out one of the binders, setting it on top of the open drawer and going through it.

Michael turns around and leans back against the counter, crossing his legs in front of him and looking out of the window.

He tilts his head and frowns thoughtfully as he stares at the decals and menus and brochures he’s got taped to the window, most peeling with old age.

Alex makes a small triumphant sound and it drags Michael’s gaze back to him. He’s doing something on his phone, typing fast with his thumbs and then he sends Michael a grin and closes the binder putting it away.

“What did you just do?” Michael asks, furrowing his brow.

“Transferred the average amount you’d make today to Sanders’ account.”

Michael’s face clears and he looks at Alex mutinously. “You really don’t have to do that.”

Alex gives him an exasperated look back. “You’re going to be ignoring your job to help me do something that isn’t even that-”

“You’ve been avoiding me for months,” Michael says interrupting him, and Alex stops speaking, mouth closing with a snap. “You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t think it was important.”

Alex exhales roughly looking away from Michael briefly before he turns to look back at him. “It hasn’t been months.”

Michael doesn’t say anything, just continues to look at Alex. 

Alex looks back at him. 

“It’s already done,” he says, waving his phone in the air. “And there’s more important things to worry about, like whatever that clue means.”

He points towards the piece of paper in Michael’s hands.

Michael looks down at it and then back at the window remembering. 

He points towards the window, “Doesn’t it look like the sign is pointing towards that menu right there?”

He points it out, and Alex moves around the counter to lean back against the counter right next to Michael, pressing their sides close together, and Michael’s breath hitches as he realizes that this is the closest they have been in _months_.

Michael turns his head towards him and inhales, and he can smell Alex. The subtle scent of his cologne and the smell of fire on his clothes and the piney-woody smell that comes from living in a cabin, and the damp wet smell that means he’s been spending some time in a bunker.

Alex inhales sharply and turns to Michael, and they both freeze, just staring at each other for a long second. Alex’s eyes drop to his mouth again, and Michael feels it like a physical touch.

He inhales shakily, and Alex blinks a few times before he turns slowly back towards the window.

“The Crashdown,” he says, swallowing hard. “That’s where we’ll find the next clue.”

Michael nods his head, pushing down the feeling of disappointment, and clearing his throat. “That’s what it looks like.”

“Then let’s go,” Alex says, pushing away from the counter and heading out of the office. 

Michael inhales deeply, trying to gather as much patience and self control as he can. It’s going to take all of it for him not to grab Alex and kiss him like he really wants to.

Michael exhales roughly and laughs weakly, who is he even kidding. He just pushes away from the counter and walks out, locking the door behind him, hoping that if he does break and kisses Alex, that Alex won’t punch him in the face.

**.the crashdown.**

Alex walks into the diner before him, calling out for Arturo who looks so happy to see him that Michael just stares as he greets Alex like a long lost son and doesn’t notice when Liz pops up next to him.

“You’re hanging out with Alex?” she asks, making Michael jump up and turn to her in surprise.

She’s looking at how Arturo hugs Alex with a soft smile on her face as he makes a comment, probably about how skinny Alex is and hustles him into the kitchen.

“Not exactly,” he says and then scrambles for something to tell her, since Alex doesn’t want anyone else to know what he’s doing until he’s figured out whether this is an actual scavenger hunt or a wild goose chase. “We’re just-”

Liz gasps a little and when Michael looks away from where he can see Alex laughing at something Arturo says, it’s to see that she has delighted, if slightly incredulous look on her face.

“Are you on a date right now?”

Michael feels the words hit him right in the stomach. He wishes they were on a date right now, and was about to open his mouth to deny it when Alex walks out of the kitchen and Michael’s attention snaps to him like they’re magnetized.

Alex inclines his head towards one of the booths, and Michael nods slightly.

“You are!” She exclaims, and Michael’s gaze snaps back to her and the wide smile on her face.

Before Michael can do or say anything else, she’s pushing him towards the booth Alex just sat down at.

“I’ll be right with you,” she says, and Michael can see her sneakily trying to pull her phone out of the pocket of her apron, and he just sighs resigned to the fact that for the next couple of days he’s going to be fielding calls from everyone about whether or not he and Alex are trying to date again.

He slides into the seat across from Alex, and Alex gives him a slight smile.

“Arturo says that Jim used to sit here all of the time.”

Michael leans forward a little and tries not to fidget with the utensils or the napkin as he looks at Alex, “And you think you’ll find the clue from here?”

Alex’s smile widens a little while he nods. “Yeah, Arturo says that he and Jim didn’t really talk much, but he would always order the same thing on Friday afternoons and sit down in this spot.”

Before Michael can make a comment, Liz is back, dropping a single milkshake between the two of them with two straws, and a plate of fries with a wink and then she disappears again.

Alex looks at the milkshake with a furrowed brow and Michael takes a deep breath, calming breath before speaking.

“She thinks we’re on a date,” Michael says, and Alex’s gaze snaps to his, eyes wide and startled.

“Why would she-?” he starts, and Michael just shrugs cutting him off.

“You said not to tell anyone anything, and she jumped to her own conclusion before I could come up with an excuse. It’s not my fault that you’ve been basically MIA and that there hasn’t been a serious problem in weeks so you have no reason to actually be here with me.”

Alex sighs and pushes the milkshake towards Michael.

Michael licks his lips and looks at the milkshake, staring as the water droplets from the condensation slide down the side of the glass.

“I know that you probably hate me,” Michael starts and stops when Alex laughs. 

He gives him a look, and Alex is shaking his head and looking up at the ceiling before he looks back at Michael, who is trying not to look as hurt as he feels.

Alex’s gaze softens a little bit.

“I don’t hate you,” he says. “I wish that I did. It would’ve made things easier, but I don’t. I could never hate you.”

Michael swallows hard and looks back to the milkshake dragging it closer to his side, and playing with the straw absently. “I figured that you did. And that’s why you avoided me for so long.”

Alex sighs again. 

“Guerin,” he says, and Michael hears him move until there is a hand on his forearm.

Michael inhales deeply before he looks up at him.

“I don’t hate you,” he repeats looking at Michael seriously. “Avoiding you is easy. A habit that is easy to fall into and hard to break without proper incentive.”

“You told me that we were family, and then left me alone when I needed you the most,” Michael says trying to sound unbothered and not accusing, but Alex reads right through that and moves his hand away from Michael, clenching his jaw while he looks away.

“I’m sorry about that,” he says. “I have no real excuse other than the fact that it hurt too much to see you.”

Michael feels his gut twist into knots and like there is a knife lodged in his throat. “I’m sorry-”

“No,” Alex says shaking his head. “You don’t have to apologize for choosing something else, someone else who you didn’t have to fight so hard just to _be_ with. I understood where you were coming from the whole time.”

Michael swallows hard, and Alex shakes his head again and looks down at the table, staring at his hands splayed on the glossy wood.

“But just because I understood, didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt,” he says to the table, and Michael stares at the top of his head, willing Alex to look up at him.

“You broke my heart, Guerin,” he says, voice low, like he doesn’t want Michael to actually hear him, but Michael does and it feels like a punch to the throat. “And I know that between the two of us I have the monopoly on breaking things, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.”

Michael continues to stare at Alex, but Alex doesn’t look at him, and when he doesn’t say anything else. Michael exhales roughly and tries to figure out something to say.

“It was never my intention to hurt you,” Michael starts after a few more minutes of loaded silence. Alex jumps a little and looks up at him, finally, with wide and wet dark eyes. 

“I know that,” Alex says looking at him earnestly. “And I didn’t mean any of the things that I yelled at you that day, we were both in a bad place, and I know that it was worse for you, but I thought that I was giving you what you wanted, not making things worse.”

Michael opens his mouth to speak when Alex looks over his shoulder and narrows his eyes.

Music spills out through the diner coming from the jukebox, and Michael turns back towards it to see Liz there sending him a thumb’s up as the song plays about a man standing in front of his love asking them to give him another chance.

Michael turns back to Alex to see that he’s still looking over at the jukebox, but not at Liz.

He gets up from his seat, and Michael follows after him.

He turns and smiles at Michael pointing out map of Roswell that’s taped to the side of the jukebox. There is a spiral right on top of where Michael knows the Wild Pony is located, and he gives Alex a look that does nothing to temper Alex’s excitement. 

“You know the Pony will be closed right now, right?”

Alex just rolls his eyes, “Come on, let’s go!”

He grabs Michael’s hand and tugs him out through the doors, only letting him go when they get to his car. 

Michael flexes his fingers trying to get rid of the tingly warm feeling, and gets into the car.

**.the wild pony.**

Alex walks into the Wild Pony without knocking and Michael hears Maria’s delighted shout before the door closes and cuts the noise off.

He inhales deeply and tries to center himself again.

Doing yoga with Isobel and Liz went a long way to help him when he feels like things are going out of his control. But he still feels like he’s going to enter a minefield if he steps in through the doors.

The last time that he’d been in there with both Alex and Maria present, Alex had told him that he never wanted to see Michael again, and Maria had told him that they were better off as friends.

He exhales slowly, and repeats the process five times before the door opens and Maria is dragging him inside.

Michael stumbles when she lets him go, and gapes at her while she raises an eyebrow at him.

“Were you going to just stay out there the whole time?”

Michael gives her a look and tries not to project how he’s actually feeling about the situation, but Maria figures him out immediately rolling her eyes hard and hitting him on the shoulder with the back of her hand.

“Trust me when I say that it will take a lot more than both of us falling for the same guy to break us apart,” she tells him and then turns towards the bar, waving a hand over to where Alex is walking around one of the pool tables.

As Michael turns to look at him, Alex drops on the floor and rolls beneath one of the tables.

He hears Maria snort in laughter and walks over to the table, crouching down and looking at Alex.

“You okay down there?”

Alex rolls his eyes, “You should be down here with me. You said you would help.”

Michael sighs and then ducks down beside Alex.

“This is a first,” Michael says thoughtfully, looking beneath the table with a furrowed brow.

He feels Alex turn to face him, and his voice sounds amused when he speaks. “You’ve never been laid out on the floor of the Wild Pony?”

Michael turns to him and he feels his heart skipping a beat when he notices how close they are. He swallows hard.

“Not sober,” he says, voice barely a whisper.

Alex huffs out a small breathless laugh and his eyes drop down to Michael’s mouth, before he licks his bottom lip and looks away.

“Or with company,” Michael continues, and smiles when Alex rolls his eyes.

“I was afraid that I’d ruined your friendship with Maria,” Michael admits while Alex just looks up, not really searching for anything.

Alex inhales sharply, and then exhales slowly.

Michael continues to look at him.

“We worked our shit out weeks ago,” Alex says. “Almost as soon as she broke things off with you. I said some not nice things and she said some not nice things and then we got drunk and cried and apologized to each other and then it was all good.”

Michael stares at him and comes to a realization, “That’s why Liz was so surprised to see us together. Because I’m the only one you’ve been avoiding.”

Alex sighs. “It’s more like, they haven’t been avoiding _me_ , if I’m being honest. Maria just came over one night with Liz in tow and now it’s a weekly thing.”

Before Michael can come up with something to say to that, Maria is crouching down beside the table.

They both turn towards her.

“Jim didn’t exactly spend a lot of time passed out on the floors of this bar,” she says helpfully.

Alex sighs, and opens his mouth to say something when Michael notices something tucked in between the wooden planks that make up the sides of the table. He reaches up cutting Alex off unintentionally, and pulls the piece of paper out.

Alex makes a noise and moves closer, pressing his face to Michael’s shoulder as Michael unfolds the paper.

It’s a brochure for places to go visit in Roswell, and that same spiral from before was marked right next to the words The UFO Emporium, and one of the UFO saucers was circled in red.

Maria makes a highly amused look at the back of her throat, and Michael looks at her, and she’s biting her lip down on a smile.

Alex huffs out a breath, like he can’t believe it, and rolls out from beneath the table before Michael can turn to him.

Maria straightens up and walks around the table to Alex, “Looks like Jim is trying to tell you something from beyond the grave.”

“Yeah,” Alex answers as Michael rolls out from beneath the table and to his feet. “That he has a tragic sense of humor.”

Michael folds the brochure in half and tucks it into his back pocket.

“How about a drink for the road?” Michael asks feeling like he’s going to need a lot more than a shot of liquid courage to walk into the UFO Emporium, especially in the company of Alex.

Maria takes one look at him, and nods her head. “One drink only,” she says giving him a look, and Michael raises his hands in defense giving her a smile.

She turns towards the bar, and Alex turns towards him raising an eyebrow. Michael rolls his eyes lightly, “We’re working on my sobriety.”

Alex just inclines his head and then heads towards the bar.

Michael follows behind at a slower pace and gets there just as Maria slides one shot to Alex and sets the other one in the seat in front of the seat next to him.

Michael grabs his shot and Maria raises hers in the air. “To you guys, finally getting your shit together.”

Michael gives her a look, and she rolls her eyes at them. “Liz called me. I think it’s a little weird that you’re on a scavenger hunt for your first date, but I guess you guys have never done anything normal in your lives.”

Alex looks at Michael raising an eyebrow, and Michael just rolls his eyes looking back at Maria before knocking their glasses together and taking the shot without a word.

**.the ufo emporium.**

There are tourists in the Emporium when they finally get there.

Alex ignores everyone and heads right to where the UFO models with their kitschy aliens waving, are hanging from the ceiling.

Michael walks behind him in a more sedate pace feeling like he’s having a highschool flashback.

He remembers how nervous he’d been when he’d followed Alex in here, and how giddy that nervousness turned when Alex kissed him back.

Alex stops right in front of the display, and Michael very nearly bumps into his back.

Alex inhales shakily and then turns around to face Michael, taking a step back and very nearly hitting the UFO when he sees how close Michael is.

Alex swallows hard and his gaze drops to Michael’s mouth and then darts around the whole room, to take in the people walking around the room before he looks back at Michael with a determined expression.

“I want this to be a date,” he says, and Michael feels his heart stutter in his chest. “But I’m also afraid that if I let you in again, we’ll just hurt each other.”

Michael steps forward shaking his head, but Alex raises a hand to stop him.

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, about everything, but especially about us, and you know what I figured out?”

Michael shakes his head.

“That I love you so much,” he says, looking into Michael’s eyes, his own bright with unshed tears. “But it’s not enough when I’m constantly tied to things that hurt you.”

Michael reaches for him again shaking his head, and Alex grabs his left hand, fingers cool against his skin, and Michael stops.

This is the first time since Max healed him that Alex has touched his left hand.

Michael stares as Alex lifts his hand to his face, and presses a kiss to the back of it.

Michael jolts looking around at the people that aren’t paying any attention to them, but still.

“I was trying to let you go,” Alex says, and Michael’s gaze snaps back to him. “But it’s almost impossible to do that when you’re such a huge part of me, and when in reality, I don’t want to.”

“I don’t want to let you go, either,” Michael says voice hoarse and just staring as Alex presses another kiss to his hand.

“I don’t want to keep living in the past, Guerin,” he says, and Michael freezes, breath catching painfully in his throat. “I want to move forward, preferably with you, but I can try to do it without you.”

“I want that too,” Michael says moving closer. “I want all of it, but I’m scared too.”

Alex nods, eyes closing and Michael watches as the tears leak out of the corners.

“Scared that you’ll walk away again.”

Alex shakes his head and presses Michael’s hand to his cheek.

“But I don’t want to keep living in the past either,” he breathes and stares at Alex until he blinks his eyes open and looks back at him. “I want to start over, but I don’t want to just be friends.”

Alex huffs out a small laugh, and gives Michael a look and Michael really wants to kiss him.

Alex makes a low noise at the back of his throat, and his gaze drops to Michael’s mouth.

Michael gathers at the vestiges of his self control and looks away, eyes darting to the nearest thing besides Alex, and spots a weird dip on one of the UFO saucers.

Alex lets his hand go and Michael points towards the UFO, “I think whatever it is we’re looking for is right there.”

Alex turns towards the UFO. “Makes sense. He would have put it somewhere that even if it was moved around, it wouldn’t be found accidentally.”

While Alex studies the UFO and tries to figure out where the clue could be hidden, Michael looks at the second UFO trying to see if there are any differences between the two that could help them out.

He notes almost immediately that one of the lights on top of the one Alex is studying is moved, just slightly enough to offend the pattern.

Alex makes an annoyed sound at the back of his throat, and Michael bites down on his lip before he moves around Alex, and reaches for the light that is out of place, sliding it back into place with a soft clicking sound.

A panel from beneath to UFO opens and something falls to the floor.

Alex bends down to get it while Michael closes the panel shut and sees how the light moves out of position again.

Alex straightens up and he’s holding a small turquoise still embedded into a piece of stone in one hand and a folded piece of paper in the other. He tucks the stone away in the front pocket of his jeans and unfolds the paper.

It’s a hand drawn map covered in the same alien symbols that the first message was written in, and Michael feels a jolt deep in his gut as he recognizes some of the landmarks.

Alex studies the map. “I think this is at the-”

“The Turquoise Mines,” Michael finishes for him inhaling deeply.

Alex turns to him, and Michael pulls his bottom lip into his mouth before he exhales roughly.

“I think I know exactly where we need to go next.”

Alex stares at him for a long moment before he nods his head sharply and folds the map back up, sticking it into his pocket alongside the stone.

“Then let’s go,” he says holding his hand out.

Michael looks at his hand for a beat and then grabs it, wrapping their fingers together before he’s walking out of the Emporium tugging Alex along behind him.

**.the turquoise mines.**

Michael waits patiently while Alex matches the landmarks on the map to the ones right in front of him, and then gives Alex a guileless smile when he looks at Michael with narrowed eyes.

“What exactly are you hiding out here?” he asks, folding the map back up.

“It’s not like I was the one to send you on this scavenger hunt,” Michael protests lightly.

Alex just sighs and then nods his head as he moves forward decisively, passing Michael and walking down the path that leads to the entrance of the cave.

Michael follows behind him, taking care of the wooden planks covering the entrance, with a wave of his hand.

Alex turns to him raising an eyebrow, but Michael just shrugs and puts his hands into his pockets.

Alex walks in, and Michael hesitates at the entrance taking a deep breath before he follows in after Alex.

Alex is standing right in the middle of the cavern just gaping at the pods, and he turns towards Michael when he realizes that Michael is standing behind him.

“These are your pods, aren’t they?” he asks in a hushed voice as though he’s afraid of disturbing the peace and quiet.

Michael nods his head and walks forward, pointing at the one towards the left. “That ones mine, specifically.”

Alex makes a small sound in the back of his throat and Michael turns to look back at him.

He’s staring at Michael’s pod with wide, wet eyes.

“You think this is what he wanted you to find?” 

Alex blinks slightly and his eyes focus on Michael, staring at him blankly for a second before he seems to understand what Michael is asking.

“Maybe,” he pulls his phone out and turns on his flashlight before he starts looking into the corners where the soft pulsing light from the pods doesn’t illuminate. “There must be something else.”

Michael watches him as he walks around the cavern, getting distracted by the pods more often than not.

“If it’s a piece of the spaceship, I found it years ago.”

Alex shakes his head absently. “No, not that. I found the piece that he had months ago. I meant like another note, or a symbol to show that this is what he-”

“What do you mean you found the piece he had months ago?” Michael asks furrowing his brow.

Alex turns to face him, and gives him a significant look, and Michael blinks rapidly several times in realization.

“It was you,” he says a little breathlessly. “You left me the last piece of the spaceship.”

Alex inclines his head slightly. “I was trying to let you go,” he repeats the words he said before. “I knew if I saw you, I would never be able to go through with it, so I left it for you to find.”

Michael swallows hard and shakes his head. He should’ve been able to figure that out if he’s being honest. No one else but Max would’ve known that Michael was missing a piece like that.

“You should’ve said something,” Michael says looking back at Alex who is back to checking the corners of the cavern.

Alex ignores him to step forward closer to the wall, and Michael looks at the spot that he’s illuminating to see the same spiral from before. Michael doesn’t know exactly how he missed it all of these years, but it probably has to do with the fact that whenever he was down here he was more interested in getting the pods than the surroundings.

Alex passes his fingertips over the symbol, and Michael sees the way the stone lodged into the wall, looking like a growth formation to the naked eye, moves as he touches it.

Alex puts his phone back into his pocket, and tugs at the stone, grunting with the effort before he manages to get it unstuck.

He sticks his fingers into the space left behind, and pulls out another piece of paper.

Michael sees him turn towards his pod while he unfolds the paper, using the lights to read the words.

He huffs out a small laugh, and looks at Michael with a wry look on his face. “It seems like Maria is right, and Jim _is_ trying to tell me something from beyond the grave.”

Michael makes a face and steps over to Alex who reaches out to hand him the piece of paper.

Michael takes it, and looks at the words written.

_Congratulations Alex, you’ve found my biggest secret. Please guard them well. Your father can never find out about them. Love, Jim._

“He’s talking about the pods,” Michael says, looking back up at Alex, and Alex gives him a smile.

“Sure, but he’s also talking about you. I think he must’ve known that there were aliens living among us. And he must’ve known that I would’ve figured it out.”

Michael shakes his head a little. “I don’t need you to protect me. I can protect myself just fine.”

Alex licks his lips and gives Michael a look. “I’ve been trying to protect you what feels like half of my life, Guerin. And finding out the truth about you just made that instinct worse.”

He takes the note from Michael’s hand and folds it back up reverently before stuffing it into the front pocket of his jeans with the map.

“Hey,” Michael says, reaching out, and stopping Alex who starts to move towards the entrance of the cave. Alex looks at him with a furrowed brow. “I meant what I said at the Emporium.”

Alex’s face clears, and his lips twitch into a small smile before he bites down on his bottom lip.

“Me too,” he says. “And I was thinking that maybe we should go have some lunch at the Crashdown since we left without eating our food earlier, but first we have to figure out a better way to hide the entrance down here because obviously, a wooden plank isn’t going to stop someone determined enough-”

Michael tugs Alex in close, and wraps his fingers around the back of his neck, pulling him in for a kiss.

Alex pushes into the kiss immediately, kissing him back hard and a little desperate before he pulls back, hands pressed to Michael’s chest to keep him away when Michael tries to move in closer.

“Wait,” he says, sounding a little out of it, his gaze on Michael’s mouth. “No kisses until the third date.”

Michael makes a scoffing noise at the back of his throat. “That’s no sex until the third date actually.”

Alex flushes a little and glares at Michael. “No, it’s no sex until the fifth date.”

Michael gives him an incredulous look, and Alex glares back mutinously. 

“Okay,” he says. “Fine, we’ll do this your way, but first-”

He tugs Alex back in hard, and crushes their mouths together, kissing him for all that he’s worth, until Alex is wrapping his fingers in Michael’s hair and pressing in close, moaning low in the back of his throat.

Michael lets him go, and Alex’s eyes flutter open slowly.

Michael licks his lips for show, and feels a pulse of pure satisfaction when Alex’s gaze goes heavy as he stares.

“No more kissing until the third date,” he says when Alex goes to lean in.

Alex glares at him, and pulls him in for another kiss, biting against Michael’s mouth until he stops smiling and kisses Alex back.


End file.
